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Good morning, everyone! violining247 here with the Friday installment of Hillary News & Views. Let’s get to it!
In perhaps the biggest news from yesterday, Hillary met with a group of HIV/AIDS activists and leaders at her Brooklyn headquarters. Per a press release from the campaign, they discussed combating the epidemic both in the United States and abroad as well as ending the discrimination and stigma against those who are HIV-positive. The press release also details Hillary’s plans for tackling the ongoing fight against HIV/AIDS, which I’ve included here:
During this campaign, Clinton has released specific policies to tackle the HIV and AIDS epidemic. As President, she will:
Cap out-of-pocket pharmaceutical expenses for people with HIV and AIDS. Clinton has announced a plan to hold the pharmaceutical industry accountable and to achieve lower drug costs for Americans, including for medications that help treat HIV and reduce the risk of contracting AIDS. Clinton will ensure that Americans can get the care their doctors prescribe by requiring health insurance plans to cap covered out-of-pocket prescription drug costs at $250 per month. She also will allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices and will stop direct-to-consumer advertising subsidies for drug companies—reinvesting those funds in research.
Expand the utilization of HIV prevention medications, including pre-exposure prophylaxis ( PrEP ). While we work to diagnose and treat all Americans with HIV and AIDS, we also must work to prevent exposure. Decades of research are beginning to offer a promising path to prevention. Clinton will increase the CDC investment to ensure populations at greatest risk of infection have access to PrEP, and encourage states to follow suit.
Protect those with HIV and AIDS from discrimination. Clinton will work with Congress to review and reform outdated and stigmatizing HIV criminalization laws—and call on states to do the same. And she is committed to continuing to aggressively enforce the Americans with Disabilities Act and other civil rights laws to fight HIV-related discrimination.
Continue to increase HIV and AIDS research and invest in the promising innovations that research is producing. Researchers at the NIH and elsewhere are poised to make even more progress towards curing HIV, developing long-acting treatments that do not require daily pill taking, and better understanding the social and structural factors that can impact a person's ability to access HIV prevention and care services. As President, Clinton will increase funding to ensure this progress to continue.
It’s now been a couple of days since Hillary unveiled her massive plan for affordable childcare, aimed at capping childcare expenses at 10 percent of a household’s income. This policy would be a game-changer for many working families, especially working mothers. Danielle Paquette, describing the plan as having “enormous ambition,” writes at the Washington Post:
Hillary Clinton this week unveiled her vision for more quality child care in the United States, a lofty plan that includes raising pay for the industry’s workers. But the boldest idea targets parents, who now face day-care costs that rival college tuition. Clinton wants to cap that expense at 10 percent of a household’s income.
Considering that some people spend more on child care than rent, such a price shift would significantly ease the financial strain for families nationwide. Getting there, however, could be an extraordinary challenge.
…
Clinton intends to accomplish the 10 percent cap with tax credits and subsidized child care, according to her campaign. Details on how the plan would be funded and executed will come later this year, aides said.
A proposal last year from the Center for American Progress, a policy idea wellspring for Democrats, could offer a clue. Carmel Martin, CAP’s vice president of policy, said she has advised the Clinton campaign on child-care issues.
CAP recommended creating a new child-care tax credit, worth up to $14,000 per child. Under the plan, which would target low- and middle-income families, the tax credit would be advanced to parents on a monthly basis and paid directly to child-care provider. The centers, meanwhile, would qualify to receive federal money only if they complied with the state’s quality standards.
In more policy news, Hillary has announced her support for changes in the top ranks of the Federal Reserve in line with the types of changes demanded by progressive groups (bolding mine).
Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton said she would support changes to the top ranks of the Federal Reserve, an issue recently championed by progressive groups amid debate over how long the central bank should keep supporting the American economy.
The Fed is led by a seven-member board of governors based in Washington and a dozen regional bank presidents based across the country, from New York to Kansas City to San Francisco. The governors are nominated by the White House and approved by the Senate, but regional bank presidents are selected by their boards of directors, whose occupants are chosen by the banking industry and by the Fed governors in Washington.
In a statement to The Washington Post, Clinton’s campaign said she supports removing bankers from the boards of directors and increasing diversity within the Fed.
"The Federal Reserve is a vital institution for our economy and the well-being of our middle class, and the American people should have no doubt that the Fed is serving the public interest,” spokesman Jesse Ferguson said. “That's why Secretary Clinton believes that the Fed needs to be more representative of America as a whole and that commonsense reforms — like getting bankers off the boards of regional Federal Reserve banks — are long overdue.”
As the article points out, getting bankers off the board of directors of the Fed is something that Bernie has strongly advocated for during his campaign. What better way to bring all of us progressives together?
Alas, before we come together once and for all, we still have to get through the rest of the primary. KY and OR are coming up next, and there’s still quite a bit of chatter going on about the possibility that Hillary could take Oregon, per the DHM Research poll that came out a few days ago showing her with a 15-point lead. What reasons do we have to be optimistic?
Oregon has a closed primary, meaning only registered Democrats can vote, and Sanders hasn't won a closed primary yet in this campaign. Older voters are much more likely than their younger counterparts to be registered with a party, and they’re more likely to favor Clinton, giving her an edge.
In addition, Horvick’s team calculated a second set of numbers based on a potential turnout where young voters and new voters cast ballots in higher numbers than normal .
Even then, Clinton had a lead that exceeded the margin of error, 45% to 38%.
I wouldn’t personally count any chickens here, and my oh-so-scientific political spidey sense still suspects that Bernie takes Oregon, but hey, maybe if we all hit the phones we could make it happen. I certainly wouldn’t argue with a surprise win!
Meanwhile in Kentucky, former President Clinton continued his tour across the state yesterday, and will be making a couple of campaign stops in New Jersey today.
Mostly, though, Hillary has been focused on the general, as has been true for the past couple of weeks now. With the focus now being on November, it’s worth noting that Hillary for America is hiring fellows and organizers across the country to operate the all-important ground game, as HFA tweeted yesterday. If you’re interested, or if you know anyone who might be interested, make sure to apply by May 19. It looks like a fantastic opportunity, and I hope some of you are able to take advantage of it. This sort of work is really what will get us the presidency and hopefully the Senate come November.
xHFA organizing is hiring for multiple roles to build the team that will win this election. Here's how you can join: https://t.co/HhyXA1uLwB
— Hillary for America (@HFA) May 12, 2016One of the most fun parts about transitioning to the general though is indulging in the game of veepstakes. Who will it be? There’s been some buzz about Elizabeth Warren as a possibility, but what was especially interesting was an article in yesterday’s Huffington Post sharing both the Clinton Camp’s thoughts on Warren’s tweetstorms and the results from a 2015 focus group where they floated Warren’s name in regards to the 2016 presidential race.
A longtime Clinton veteran said the campaign definitely noticed Warren’s attacks. “You want a running mate who can take the fight to the other side with relish,” the veteran said. “Geography does not matter, but attitude and talent and energy and bringing excitement to the campaign, Senator Warren does all that.”
The attributes that Warren would bring to the VP slot extend beyond vigorous mocking of Trump. Top Democrats increasingly see a dual-female ticket as a potent response to a GOP nominee with a well-documented past of sexist remarks.
Then there is the conventional wisdom that Warren would keep backers of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in the fold. “She can help validate Clinton with progressives and remind them that despite their differences in the primary, the alternative of the Donald would be untenable,” said Penny Lee, a former longtime aide to Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and now a Democratic consultant.
As widely accepted as that argument is, it may dramatically understate the extent of Warren’s appeal. In January 2015, pollster Peter Hart, who does survey research for NBC and The Wall Street Journal, ran a focus group in Colorado with independents and Republicans, gauging their outlook on the 2016 presidential election. This was not a set of millennial Bernie bros ripe for the political revolution. (In fact, Sanders’ name never came up — a window into just how far he’s come in such a short time.)
What stunned Hart was the response to Warren. Not only was the group familiar with her, which took him somewhat by surprise, they were downright enthusiastic.
Now, I leave it to you to hash out in the comments (for the gazillionth time) whether or not Warren would be a good pick. Ready, set, go!
It also seems like Bernie is beginning the process of transitioning to general election mode himself. Per the tweet below, he seems to be making stronger overtures toward party unity:
xMinutes ago to press, @BernieSanders: "I'm not here to say Hillary Clinton can't defeat Donald Trump, I absolutely believe that she can."
— Elizabeth Landers (@ElizLanders) May 12, 2016I know sometimes, ok a lot of times, this primary has gotten overly heated and impassioned, but I think this statement is a very positive sign for things to come. Less than a month from now, whether we’ve been #withher or #feelingthebern, or even indifferent, we’re all going to have to unite as Team Blue to save the country from Team Orange (that’s right, they get a new color this year, in honor of their leader). And I bet that once we do come together, we’ll be a force to be reckoned with.
Crossposted at HillaryHQ, an independent, progressive blog committed to the electing Hillary Clinton as the next President of the United States. If you want to support this work, consider a donation through GoFundMe.